Thursday, March 21, 2013

Epic Snow Day

If I was as good at this blogging stuff as my college buddy, I would have all kinds of photos from my ski day yesterday. I did have my iPhone with me, so I could have taken all kinds of photos. But, I was too busy skiing and grinning all day long.

I borrowed some fat powder skis from a friend, and I then skied with that friend, his wife, and we were joined intermittently by a few other instructors from Sugarbush. There was a lot of soft new snow and I instantly loved the big fat skis I was on. The skis I bought for this season are simply not versatile and to be honest, they've taken a lot of the fun out of skiing for me this year. I am not going to use that ski as my primary ski after this season.

We did a nice easy warm-up, and then headed for the summit. It honestly didn't matter what trail we picked. There was a lot of snow everywhere and even on the steep trails, I could really point the skis downhill and let the new slow help with speed control. At times, my buddy Dave and I would hop into the trees for some turns, even though his wife isn't really comfortable in that terrain.

We had about half a dozen runs off the summit before heading in for an early lunch. The mountain was crowded and we wanted to try to beat the crowds to the lodge for some food. After a quick lunch, we hooked up with some other instructors for an out-of-bounds run that I'd never done before. There were lots of untracked lines and I was actively seeking them out. It was incredible and I was smiling non-stop.

After we did the tree line, we returned to the mountain and did a couple bump runs off the North Lynx chair. Then, we headed back to the Super Bravo chair for some bump runs and a final tree run. The last tree run was amazing - the best that line has skied in a couple seasons.

A little after three o'clock, we were all exhausted and called it a day.

Last year, we had a really bad snow year. This year has been close to average, but the coverage has been very spotty in the trees this year. Finally, with my last weekend of teaching for the season coming up, we have great coverage in the trees. Yesterday was easily my favorite skiing day in more than two years.

I'm really looking forward to this coming weekend. The last weekend of teaching is always bittersweet, as it indicates that the season is winding down. But, the conditions are amazing and it should be a really fun weekend - a last chance to explore some great terrain with my students.

I guess I could have written more about the conditions and the trails and the trees. But, unless you experienced it yourself, the words couldn't possibly do justice to the conditions we had for the day.